Metro Blog Posts
Bringing you news about clean energy projects and opportunities happening across the state. Tell your story.
 Subscribe via RSS feed |
Dan Thiede
Tue, 05/15/2012 - 9:24am
CERTs is pleased to announce that next Monday, May 21st we will open a request for proposals (RFP) for technical assistance to catalyze community energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. So stay tuned for that announcement, or sign up for email updates so that you don’t miss it.
Each region has $10,000 to award. Each team’s Steering Committee will make its own selections and project funding levels will vary by region. Projects can apply for up to the full $10,000 in their region, but historically regions have funded multiple projects in each region. See more information below about previously funded projects.
We awarded grants in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012. The amount varies depending on the year and the project.
All projects
This map includes all projects ever funded by CERTs, color-coded by the year the award was...
Dan Thiede
Tue, 05/15/2012 - 8:04am
Before your calendar starts filling up for February 2013, we want to make sure you mark off February 20-21, 2013 (a Wednesday and Thursday) so that you can join us for the fifth biennial Clean Energy Resource Teams statewide conference!
What can you expect? We can’t tell you exactly what the agenda will look like, but we do know that the event will be an exploration and celebration of successful energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, and that it will be a coming together of hundreds of amazing people who are working to create a clean energy future in their communities and beyond. After the conference you will return home and to work with tangible and practical information for planning projects, as well as great connections to help you move forward and continue collaborating....
Julia Eagles
Thu, 05/10/2012 - 1:54pm
Over 100 community members from around the Metro region gathered for Metro CERT’s fifth annual spring resource and networking event on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012! Click here to see the full agenda.
Kicking Things Off: City Councilmember Gary Schiff, who represents Ward 9, kicked off the event by welcoming attendees to his district. He outlined some of the broader steps the Minneapolis is taking towards sustainability, including benchmarking the city’s carbon footprint and measuring their progress based on a series of indicators.
Ecological Footprint of the Twin Cities: Professor Ignacio San Martin from the Center for Metropolitan Design at the University of Minnesota was the keynote speaker for the event. He shared his research on the Twin Cities ecological footprint, which looks...
Tom Niemisto
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:47am
Project Independence is a 44-panel solar panel array at the Chisago Lakes Middle School in Lindstrom, MN. The project received large support from the community as well as major grants from the State of Minnesota and the Metro Clean Energy Resource Team (CERT), but science teacher Pat Collins would tell you that his students really took ownership in making it happen.
Collins initiated the project when he was looking for a way to both save on energy costs to the district and to have a tool to demonstrate sustainability in his life-sciences classes. Check out a live update of power generated from the installation in the video below!
Read a CERTs case study to...
Joel Haskard
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 7:52am
The Midwest is home to a wealth of energy resources, which vary considerably by state. How those resources are deployed will impact the region’s economy, landscape, environment, and public health. A new online resource, The Power Almanac of the American Midwest, has been designed to allow you to flexibly and dynamically explore the region’s electric resources, opportunities, and challenges. We spoke with Rolf Nordstrom, Executive Director of the Great Plains Institute, to learn more.
Joel Haskard: How did the Power Almanac of the Midwest come about?
Rolf Nordstrom: The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Great Plains Institute (GPI) have worked together since 2007 to help policymakers and a very diverse range of interests—from utilities and environmental...
Joe Rand
Mon, 04/30/2012 - 4:38pm
The 2nd Annual Minnesota Renewable Energy Challenge is fast approaching—and teams are hard at work designing their wind turbines and solar boats:
“Dude, how many milli-watt seconds did you get with that vertical axis turbine?”
“Woah, these airfoil blades are spinning mad-fast!”
“Maybe we should, like, charge the capacitor in case the sun goes behind that cloud…”
You might do a double take when you see who is having these conversations—middle school students discussing the coefficient of power? High school students arguing over the optimal blade pitch for their turbine at 7 m/s wind speeds? Welcome to the excitement and energy of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Challenge!
The Minnesota Renewable Energy Challenge is a student-driven wind turbine design competition, solar boat race, and renewable energy career...
Shaun Daniel
Thu, 04/26/2012 - 1:16pm
Direct energy use accounts for between 5 and 7 percent of farm expenditures. In terms of electricity used, Minnesota dairies show the largest energy costs, followed by corn growers (for grain drying especially), swine, soybeans, and other agricultural crops.
According to Barry Ryan and Douglas G. Tiffany, “dairy farmers used 376 million kWh of electricity, or 600 kWh per year for a typical cow producing 15,000 pounds of milk annually.” For dairy farmers, electricity is the single biggest energy cost.
The Minnesota Project, a key CERTs partner, highlights ways that farmers can save energy by becoming more energy efficient, and thus save money. As such, I’d like to draw your attention to a number of new resources on The Minnesota Project’s website....
Laura Rike
Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:49pm
Sharing and Caring Hands has been serving the needs of the poor in Minneapolis since 1985. They are set up to be a safety net organization to help with whatever needs are not being met, including but not limited to providing meals, clothing, showers, shelter, transportation help, rent deposits, rent help, medical assistance, dental care, furniture, school expenses, funeral assistance, and other miscellaneous needs.
We were excited when Sharing and Caring Hands came to Cedar Creek Energy and Center for Energy and Environment to retrofit their lighting, lowering their energy costs and becoming more energy efficient. As a donation-based organization that relies primarily on time, money, goods, and services donated by the...
Julia Eagles
Sun, 04/22/2012 - 3:57pm
The Building Owners and Managers Associations of Greater Minneapolis and Greater St. Paul today joined Xcel Energy in announcing the winners of the first annual Kilowatt Crackdown, a new energy conservation initiative. The year-long contest challenged Twin Cities area building owners to improve their buildings’ efficiency.
“We are thrilled that so many building owners participated in this event,” said Judy Poferl, president and CEO of Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota, an Xcel Energy company. “We all know that energy efficiency makes good business sense as well as good environmental sense, but a contest like this is a great way to help companies get started.”
A total of 86 buildings in the Twin Cities participated, saving over 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Using the Environmental Protection Agency’s equivalency tool, the savings equate to a reduction of more than 9,000...
Joel Haskard
Wed, 04/18/2012 - 8:29am
Michaels Energy is an energy efficiency consulting company looking to partner with Minnesota convenience stores and utilities in a unique opportunity to save energy and money. We spoke with Ralph Dickinson to learn more.
Joel Haskard: Tell us a little bit about this project.
Ralph Dickinson: Michaels Energy has been awarded a grant by the Minnesota Division of Energy Resources to study energy usage in convenience stores and to develop a program specific to Minnesota to save energy in those stores.
Joel: What is the objective of this project?
Ralph: This program will focus on low-cost and no-cost measures for implementation and will identify more substantial opportunities as well. Michaels’s experience with similar programs in other states indicates that savings of up to 20% can be achieved with such a program.
Joel: How many...
Pages
Clean Energy Resource Teams